One Piece: Spirits of the Blades
by Black' Victor Cachat
Summary: After his most horrific battle within the New World to date, Zoro finds himself visited by three spirits. One-shot.


I do not own One Piece

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Beta read by the wonderful Karukyuu

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Spirits of the Blades

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"This is awful!" Nami cried. "How could anyone survive such injuries!?"

"I'll save him," Chopper promised as he feverishly performed First Aid on the bloody Zoro.

Unable to help, Sanji took a moment limp over and stare down at the one responsible for hurting his crewmate and nakama: the personal swordsman of an Emperor. Even now the island shook and trembled as their Captain battled the enemy leader. Today was a day of infamy.

"With the idiot swordsman down, I'm going to go catch up to Luffy. Someone's got to watch his back against any funny stuff."

While obviously torn, Nami nodded in agreement. Chopper kept working, but she spared a moment to push Zoro's swords towards their master's hands so that he could still grip them.

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Zoro awoke within darkness.

Unafraid, he took a moment to look around with his one eye, sensing with his haki but felt something…strange. It was like he was only sensing his own haki signature, but all around him.

His swords were still with him, as always, but he could not cut anything in front of him. _How can I even see my arms in all this black?_ Attempts to cut the ground beneath him were futile, because he could see the blades pass right past his feet as if there was nothing there, except something was still holding him up. _New World weirdness_ , he concluded, and put it out of his mind.

Dimly he could hear his crew talking, and by the sounds of it they had all won, and they were waiting for him to wake up or something, but they could not hear his yells for some reason.

Then it finally clicked, something Hawkeye had hinted at in a cryptic conversation at dinner one night a few months before he had left. About how true mastery of a sword required mastering them by more than just wielding them.

 _This should be interesting_ , he smirked.

"Darn right!" a voice cackled from behind.

Turning his head, Zoro took in the sight of a wiry man, naked except for a green sash at his waist and extensive black tattoos of various origins, especially highlighting his long pointed nails and teeth. He gave a quick bow with his head that sent his waist-length spiky red hair askew, and his knowing smirk somehow rubbed Zoro the wrong way. Even more than the Idiot Cook's face. "Sandai Kitetsu, at your service," said the stranger, voice pitched so that the user could deny they were being sarcastic.

A series of loud clanking sounds echoed through the gloom until a samurai suddenly walked into view right beside them. Like the first stranger he wore three swords in a sash, but other than that he was covered in full armour, pitch black with red highlighting. "And I am Shusui," the newcomer added, "and the three of us bid you welcome."

Disinterested in playing games, Zoro just stayed quiet as he waited for the third. A part of him dreaded what was to come, but he instinctively knew to not show any weakness. Even greater was his anticipation…

In the space of a moment she was just _there_ , clad in white and as terrible as she was fair.

He recognized some of her features from Captain Copycat, a woman grown, but there was a steel to her expression that that lady rarely showed. This person would never be so readily cowed or unbalanced, and there were subtle differences to her that Zoro could pick up. "Kuina," he breathed. _How you should have been, if Fate had not taken you away._ He disliked hurting women, it was just who he was, but seeing the face of his one, true rival, he knew that her gender would not be an issue here and now.

"Wado Ichimonji," the woman gently corrected, but there was an edge to her voice as it ran across Zoro's skin, making it prickle as if it were being cut. _Then why does she look like Kuina?_ he wondered. _Is it because of me, or did her spirit truly pass on to her blade when I swore my oath?_

Then he remembered that thinking too much about New World weirdness was bad for you, and stopped.

Sharply, her words cut off any further thoughts. "Roronoa Zoro, this shall be your final test before facing Yoru. If you die here, you die outside."

No one moved, and then Zoro crossed his arms over his chest, feeling uncharacteristically curious. "Do we do anything else? Finally having my swords talk back with actual words is kinda nice. And how does fighting you help?"

In answer and as one, all three figures drew their three swords, each taking up a different stance of the Santoryu Stye. _His_ style.

"Your swords, aye?" mocked Sandai Kitetsu between the sword gripped in his teeth.

In answer Zoro just barred a full-tooth sneer as his blood boiled with eagerness, and he reached up to put on his bandana.

Then they all struck.

Drawing the swords he carried in an instance, Sandai Kitetsu, Shushui, and Wado Ichimonji were in his hands and mouth, coated with haki like a purple fire as Zoro fought their personifications. In mere moments he confirmed what he had instinctively known as he had met each of them, knowing as only a fellow swordsman could: they were his equals.

Each of them wielded their three swords with all of his own skill, Sandai Kitetsu carrying three copies of himself, Shushui with three familiar black blades, and Wado Ichimonji with three white ones that Zoro recognized better than anything else in life.

From all sides they pressed at him, flawlessly fighting together with the sense of ease that only came from years of battling side by side. They were fighting to kill.

 _Pushing me beyond my limits…_

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"When will they wake up, Chopper?" Robin asked. Her arms were covered in bandages, but her concern was for her crew lying about the _Thousand Sunny_ 's sickbay.

What was left of Brook was lying within a tub of milk, with only his head and precious afro sticking out, while an immobile Franky diligently and endlessly scooped up a cup of milk from the rest to run down his friend's face.

The cyborg appeared almost as dead as the skeleton, with an arm and half of his chest missing. It was chilling for even their allies to see how inhuman the Straw Hats were at times, although Bartolomeo's cries of how awesome it was snapped them out of it and prompted them to carry Franky to Chopper for medical help. Fortunately, he had managed to convey that none of it was immediately life threatening, since most of his organs had already been replaced by redundant components, and that his heart was so heavily shielded it could even function despite so much blood loss. For now, they were just pumping cola directly into his body, since his throat was crushed.

Usopp was keeping their allies busy, his bloody and battered face resembling his "god" wanted poster so much that some of them were having religious moments. Despite the vulnerability of the Straw Hats, given the scale of their victory, and how some of them were still able to fight, no one was trying to take advantage of their weakness. Right now, even those who were not entirely trustworthy, were still too much in awe of them.

Luffy would be lucky to wake up in a week after his decisive battle with the mad Emperor.

As for Zoro…

"It's weird," Chopper finally said with confusion. Robin said nothing, ignoring how Zoro should have been claimed by Death years ago, curious as to what even Chopper labelled unusual by this point. "He should be fully out of it, but look at how his eyes are moving," he peeled back Zoro's eyelids, "there's a lot of brain activity going on!"

"Maybe he's having an intensive dream?" Robin speculated.

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With a roar Zoro knocked them all back. "You might have my skills, but none of my spirit!" he snarled.

Sandai Kitetsu reacted the fastest, leaping straight in without hesitation, but to his shock was swiftly driven back. "You've got the killer's instinct, and the bloodlust," Zoro hissed, "but no focus to drive it! _I_ give you that, just as Luffy and the others give it to me! All you're doing is swinging around hunks of metal!"

The cursed blade fell with a slit throat, but Zoro had already turned to block Shusui. Again and again the samurai hammered away at Zoro's blades, trying to break them, while leaving openings in his own form, his armour effortlessly repelling what strikes Zoro got through. Wado Ichimonji was coming around to overwhelm Zoro alongside her companion, and Zoro knew what he had to do.

"Demon Spirit Nine Sword Style: Asura!" Even within his mind the demonic aura came at Zoro's call, and he leapt at Shusui with his greatest technique. "Nine Swords Style Secret Technique: Great Nine Million Great Million Worlds!"

The dark was lit up by the sparks of the strike as Zoro passed by Shusui, but when he looked back, the samurai was only grinning at him despite the sword still gripped in his teeth. The armour was only scratched, no more.

Blood sprayed out of Zoro's front and back.

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It was instinct that brought Sanji, Usopp, and Nami back into the medical bay, and Franky could not explain why he had pushed both himself and Brook closer to Zoro.

"Zoro," an unconscious Luffy whispered. "Win. Cut. Win."

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"Aye, aye, Captain," Zoro breathed as his six hands spun their swords around once more, while his three heads tightened their teeth upon their grip. His entire body cloaked in haki, with the other two mimicking this as well, creating nine limbs each.

Together Wado Ichimonji and Shusui charged at him. The enemies of the Straw Hats would show no honour…

… _and so I must prove to be better than that_ , Zoro knew.

"Nine Swords Style Secret Technique: Great Nine Million Great Million Worlds!"

They passed by on either side of him, but he deflected every sword. Or cut them.

"Graaah!" Shusui screamed as he fell to his knees, ignoring the gaping, red cuts over his body in favour of the shards of his own black blades embedded within his face. Torn to shreds before Zoro's skill and flung right back into their wielder, he collapsed with a clatter of metal.

And then there was only her.

Only Wado Ichimonji remained, and despite being the target of the same brand new technique, her white appearance was as pure as ever. Only her spirit limbs had been hurt, and as they faded away, Zoro did the same so that they would stay evenly matched. Even if his enemies would fight without honour, he would not lower himself so.

Without a word they clashed against each other, her soul battering against his for supremacy.

Small cuts began to grow upon his flesh as she penetrated his defense, while in turn she remained unmarked. "Your refusal to cut me, your unwillingness to do whatever is needed, will be your downfall!" she finally screamed. "How can you protect their dreams if you are unwilling to do whatever is necessary!?"

"I will die forsworn if that's what it takes to save their dreams! If that's as far as Fate declares I shall go, so be it!" he roared back, suddenly putting her on the defense. "But I'm not as weak as I was on Thriller Bark! On Sabaody! Not so weak that one of _them_ might die trying to preserve my own dream!"

With a sudden twist as he finally deciphered her fighting style, his own style and the weakness he had never seen there before, all three white swords were ripped from their wielder's grip, and she stood unarmed.

Sheathing his swords as he closed with her, Zoro brushed his lips against Wado Ichimoni's. Against Kuina's. "You, either of you, represent that dream, more than Kitetsu and Shusui, as precious as they are to me. And I'm not so weak as to hurt you."

Gently she reached up to touch his face, and then faded into mist.

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As one the Straw Hats felt an unspoken tension leave their bodies, and those still mobile returned to what they had been doing before. Luffy started to mutter about meat in time with Zoro's sleepy groans about needing booze.

Their journey, their dreams, would continue.

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Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk opened his eyes and stood up from his bed in one fluid motion.

He left his cabin, ignoring how those around him nervously backed away, although he did give a polite nod to Perona.

Unerringly he walked up to the Captain of the _Red Force_ , Red Hair Shanks, and even the Emperor was unnerved by the _hungry_ smile that Hawkeye wore. "He's ready."

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 **Author Notes:**

 **Jinbe was deliberately excluded from the list of the crew if only because he has not fully joined yet, that is my only reason.**

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 **Please Review, and I will get back to you!**


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